


Pappa Knows Best

by HedwigsTalons



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Even Bech Næsheim (mentioned) - Freeform, Gen, Isak X Even established relationship, Isak's parents (mentioned), Seeking advice, guru Eskild, mentions of mental health issues, sometimes your adoptive parents are better than your own, strays returning home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28200240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedwigsTalons/pseuds/HedwigsTalons
Summary: Sometimes, when life gets hard, you just want to turn to your parents for advice.  Luckily for Isak he's got Eskild to fill that void.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	Pappa Knows Best

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still just getting a feel for the characters so this is unplanned and unedited. At some point I'll write something with actual plot.

It took two attempts for Eskild to get his key in the lock, adding another scratch to the abused paintwork. The night had been fun, some drinks, some dancing, some playful flirting, but now he needed sleep before another work shift rolled around.

The door finally yielded to his attempts and he stumbled in. Light spilled from the kitchen and he wasn't sure whether to be grateful that he didn't have to navigate the shoe pile in the dark or exasperated that someone, probably him, had forgotten to switch it off again. 

As he stood in the doorway to click the switch the sight inside sobered him up uncomfortably quickly.

The kitchen wasn't empty.

There at the table sat Isak, his head slumped forwards, resting on his arms.

At one point this would have been a familiar sight. Ordinarily there would be bottles, cans, or at least the detritus of a late night snack making mission strewn around the sleeping form as the effects of a party hit Isak before he could stumble back to bed.

Except tonight the kitchen was spotless and Isak wasn't asleep. The glassy eyes that turned towards him were glazed by tears rather than weed. A soggy sleeve scrubbed at red rims, making the abused skin look even more sore.

"Isak, Isak my kitten, tell me all about it."

There was a damp sniff and a half choked sob that tore as Eskild's heart as he crouched next to the table, pulling Isak into his chest. Because something had to be really wrong for Isak to sit there so limp and folorn. Something terrible to have him seek comfort in Eskild's arms rather than pulling away.

Because Isak didn't live there any more.

It took Isak a few minutes to pull himself together. He felt stupid not being able to cope, he was an adult now after all. Except his change in status to an adult was what had him in this horrible position in the first place.

"Did you and Even fight?"

It takes Isak a moment to realise Eskild has started talking to him, murmuring into his hair, and he pulls away, giving his eyes another scrub.

"No," then slightly surer because he can tell that Eskild doesn't believe him, "no, we're fine." There's a skeptical raised eyebrow and he can understand why, because he and Even come as a definite pair and what else would having running back to his old flatmates. "Even's in Tromsø. Family stuff."

Tromsø. At this point in time it may as well be on another planet. Even couldn't get back to him even if he wanted to. Not that Even knows anything is wrong, Isak still mostly pretends that this side of his life doesn't exist.

"Come on Isak, you're going to have to give me more than that to go on."

In answer Isak digs out his phone, unlocks it and slides it across the table to Eskild who takes it with all the care of an unexploded bomb. There is a text on the screen, a short message from Isak's father containing nothing more than a hospital name, ward number and phone number.

"Your mum?"

Isak nods. His mum. 

"Oh Isak. Tell pappa Eskild all about it."

There is another wet sniff from the teen who is a picture of torment and misery before Isak starts to recount the chain of events that had him fleeing back to the place that had given him sanctuary a lifetime ago.

The call from his Dad earlier had been so dispassionate, so disengaged from the whole situation, a simple passing on of the facts as had been laid out to him by the hospital as Marianne's listed next of kin. Then followed the assertion that this was on Isak now and that Marianne no longer fitted into the new life he had forged for himself.

Of course Isak had known something had been wrong. The messages from his Mum had become more frequent, more fervent, more damning, each one a punch to the gut until suddenly the messages had stopped and he had been able to pretend that the abrupt end was because she was better again. 

She hadn't been better but she was better now. Sort of. Better enough to leave the psychiatric ward that had nursed her back to lucidity provided she could be released to the care of a responsible adult. Before this would have meant his father but the passing of his 18th birthday meant he was now in possession of that unenviable status. 

And so his father had just walked away from the situation, just as he had before, leaving the choice in Isak's hands. But it's an impossible decision. He couldn’t move her into their tiny apartment and he absolutely cannot go back with her to the home that stopped being a home long before he moved out. But that only leaves door number three, walking away and leaving her in the care of the state until such time as she is deemed capable of independent living.

It feels like no choice at all.

"Have you talked to Even about this?"

Isak gives a hollow scoff because how could he talk to Even? How could he admit that the thought of collecting his mother, the thought of caring for her while she is at her most vulnerable, fills him with dread? It's a task he isn't sure he can do but where does that leave him and Even.

Eskild has dealt with enough of Isak's dramas by now to have an inkling of the problem behind the problem. From that very first night in the bar, through the tumult of Isak's journey of self discovery and onto his relationship with Even, Eskild has gotten good at reading the unspoken fears behind the eye rolls.

"Even's not going to think any less of you if you say you aren't able to do this for her right now and it's not an indicator of what might happen with the two of you in future. Your Mum and Even are two different people with two different illnesses, Isak. But whatever happens you need to talk to Even because this decision is going to affect him too."

Isak lay his head back down on his arms, not wanting to engage further with Eskild. Eskild knew then he’d got the measure of it all.

“Now, now, you listen to your guru. It’s too late to do anything with the hospital tonight and it’s better to talk to Even when you are fresh, so you are going to bed down on the couch like a grumpy little stray and in the morning you are going to call that man of yours. Hmm?”

“Yes Eskild,” Isak responded weakly, not raising his head but throwing up a hand in supplication.

“Uh uhh, you know better than that.”

Isak lifted his head off the table and just about managed to crack a half smile, complete with accompanying eye roll. “Yes, my guru. I promise I’ll call him in the morning.”

Eskild gave a satisfied nod and left Isak to it. While he cared deeply for all his strays his duties did not extend to making up beds, especially when Isak knew perfectly well where to dig up a spare duvet and pillow. 

And when morning comes around Eskild is happy to tiptoe through the lounge so as not to disturb Isak’s conversation, the teen’s forehead furrowed into a frown and the phone pressed closed to his ear, showing that he is not shying away from the topics that Eskild knows will be causing Isak pain. He keeps a watching eye from a distance until the subtle changes in posture in posture, the slight relaxing of the shoulders over the course of the call, tell him that things will turn out okay.

Even so, yet again he conveniently forgets to ask Isak to return his key. Just in case.


End file.
